Hey guys. I'm not sure how many of you saw the debacle that ultimately culminated in my letting a couple people on OO have a piece of my mind and getting a temporary ban out of the deal, but it started with the thread I'm going to re-post here.

This seems to be a little bit of a better climate than OO, and thus I trust that I can post my photos here and get feedback from those shutterbugs among us (and any of you that would like to comment respectfully feel free).

Demonstrating that I can learn my lesson, I'm going to request now that the comments please remain at least somewhat respectful (I mean you can say 'hawt', or 'nice but not my cup of tea' or even 'i'd hit it' or something... but please leave the whore comments out of this and anything else that is pointedly insulting -- and if you that don't understand what I'm getting at just visit the OO metaforum to find out what happened in the sister thread to this one over there a couple weeks back).

Not enough definition on the rear. Too blurry and the way its cropped makes it look not as flattering as it should be. Don't really care for the style of underwear (or whatever they are) either. I think a solid color would have worked a lot better, maybe a beige or maroon looking at the other colors. A little cleavage would have been nice up front also, just a little tease, nothing major.

Ok ill start with my opinion. Keep in mind I just got a camera about 2 years ago myself so my opinions are just that..my own dumb stuff

Model:

Different hairstyle. Perhaps all over to one side or a pony tail.

Different panties. Id say something that lets you see the full tattoo back there. A solid red T-Back would look nice...or even better a pair of Tangas..they are very small lace shorts. A nice solid white or red in those.

The shot:

Id say pull back somewhat. Enought to get all of her in it. The pose she is in is a good start. Have her bend her knees up so her feet are in the air and crossed and closer to her head. Move slightly more to her front. Have her on her elbows. Not enough to show full breasts or even nipple..just high enought to see cleavage and get a good smile on her

Have her chin propted on her hands so that its resting on the heel of her hands with her fingers curled up. Perhaps a pouty look and pursed lips.

Ok thats it. Might conside a cheap tripod or minipod for the camera. Im going to be making me a homemade one from a soda bottle, bolt, and some tape

Not enough definition on the rear. Too blurry and the way its cropped makes it look not as flattering as it should be. Don't really care for the style of underwear (or whatever they are) either. I think a solid color would have worked a lot better, maybe a beige or maroon looking at the other colors. A little cleavage would have been nice up front also, just a little tease, nothing major.

Yeah those underwear are the new hottest thing at Victoria Secrets. The next photo session I'm going to try her with black panties.

Ok ill start with my opinion. Keep in mind I just got a camera about 2 years ago myself so my opinions are just that..my own dumb stuff

Model:

Different hairstyle. Perhaps all over to one side or a pony tail.

Different panties. Id say something that lets you see the full tattoo back there. A solid red T-Back would look nice...or even better a pair of Tangas..they are very small lace shorts. A nice solid white or red in those.

The shot:

Id say pull back somewhat. Enought to get all of her in it. The pose she is in is a good start. Have her bend her knees up so her feet are in the air and crossed and closer to her head. Move slightly more to her front. Have her on her elbows. Not enough to show full breasts or even nipple..just high enought to see cleavage and get a good smile on her

Have her chin propted on her hands so that its resting on the heel of her hands with her fingers curled up. Perhaps a pouty look and pursed lips.

Ok thats it. Might conside a cheap tripod or minipod for the camera. Im going to be making me a homemade one from a soda bottle, bolt, and some tape

Great feedback! Thanks!

The hairstyle -- I was going for unkempt look -- perhaps hinting of heavy petting prior to the shot or something? Dunno... seen it done in ads and stuff before so I tried it.

Ok ill start with my opinion. Keep in mind I just got a camera about 2 years ago myself so my opinions are just that..my own dumb stuff

Model:

Different hairstyle. Perhaps all over to one side or a pony tail.

Different panties. Id say something that lets you see the full tattoo back there. A solid red T-Back would look nice...or even better a pair of Tangas..they are very small lace shorts. A nice solid white or red in those.

The shot:

Id say pull back somewhat. Enought to get all of her in it. The pose she is in is a good start. Have her bend her knees up so her feet are in the air and crossed and closer to her head. Move slightly more to her front. Have her on her elbows. Not enough to show full breasts or even nipple..just high enought to see cleavage and get a good smile on her

Have her chin propted on her hands so that its resting on the heel of her hands with her fingers curled up. Perhaps a pouty look and pursed lips.

Ok thats it. Might conside a cheap tripod or minipod for the camera. Im going to be making me a homemade one from a soda bottle, bolt, and some tape

Great feedback! Thanks!

The hairstyle -- I was going for unkempt look -- perhaps hinting of heavy petting prior to the shot or something? Dunno... seen it done in ads and stuff before so I tried it.

Personally I like the 'unkempt' look. Not everything has to be slicked back and in its place. I've always been a fan of the side-long glance as well. I also like your use of focus - you've isolated your subject, but not blurred the background enough to completely blot it out.

As for the comments thing - people here have a healthy amount of respect and will keep their comments constructive. There will be little jabs (pigtails! To which I concur btw...but I digress) but its all in good fun. Nobody is gonna sit here and make cuts on your wife - its rude regardless of the context.

Glad to see you over here, you are more than welcome to stick around for stuff other than just pictures.

To me this picture is about her direct eye contact. It's a bold, challenging look. That being the case, I'd have made sure both her eyes were completely visible and uncovered.

The 'hair over one eye' thing works but for a different kind of pose. I'd reserve that for poses where she's smiling, for example. It's more of a fun 'flirty' pose, which is not really what this pose is.

You could curl it around the eye, so it covers part of her face, if that's really something you want in the picture, just so long as the eye itself is not covered.

I think the blanket or whatever she is on really works for her in terms of color and texture. Between that, the lighting, her skin color, and her hair color, the whole picture is made right there.

The blurred background works to keep the focus on the middle of her back forward, which is where I think it should be.

The depth of field doesn't look completely natural or smooth to me. I usually love the effect, but it seems to have created a 'glow' over the blanket. While the effect draws attention to your wife, I just blurred look of the blanket distracting, and the dresser/table distracting as well. Did you do some photoshop with it?

I think you should work on the background more, less clutter in it. Then you'd really draw attention to all of your wife, especially the part that in focus, the face.

As suggested, really maximize the eye contact. Try and put the reflected light/catch lights in the center of her eyes more. The light reflection looks off center in her eye also distracts.

And finally, you should really look into buying a better camera, and dump that Nikon toy . (Kidding)

I do like the colors though.

I've been playing more with lighting and posing with my wife as well (my favorite subject, poor girl ). Its fun, but challenging, and the more I read FredMiranda's people forums, the more I realize there is to it.

Oh, I don't mean to be to critical, I like the photo in general. Just trying to help .

If you don't think its the best idea, do not come into the thread just to say that. If you don't think its the best idea, do not come out of your permanent lurker mode just to pile on MSD. There is no need for this thread to get out of hand.

MSD, shes a pretty lady. I don't care much for the hairstyle in the pic, but that might just be her choice.

Well, I can provide some incredibly unprofessional feedback. The colors seem nice. Don't like her haircut but thats a personal preference. I don't see anything about this photo that I find obscene or risque and it is certainly much better than anything I have been able to achieve when I take posed photos.

I say keep them coming but that is just me. I love women.

And if I get tired of seeing them, I just won't visit your thread.

Logged

The Gone Gold Effect has a strong influence on the weak minded ...GamerTag: Scoop20906

I'm not sure what it is about the hair that bothers me, but I'm thinking it may not be the hair at all. Maybe it's that the hair is trying to draw attention to the face when it should be the other way around. I'd be curious to see what a slight smile, on one side, and keeping the mouth slightly open like she has here. Sort of a mischievious or perhaps wry kind of thing.

The arms. The more I look at it, the more I keep picturing a superman kind of pose. But honestly I'm not sure how I would change this. A prop maybe, something small though as you don't really want to cover the chest if you can help it. Especially the shadows, as it adds more depth to something than is really there.

The only other thing you might want to try is b&w. It would be interesting to see what added shadow does to the picture. Or maybe, if you are somewhat photoshop inclined, keep everything b&w except a red mouth and perhaps a color faded tattoo, just to keep a depth going (Or as an added treat for the viewer).

There are maybe some other things but they venture into the realm of false perfection/photoshop and I'm not going to go there.

Side Note-I'm so far very pleased with how everyone has been professional about this and suggest perhaps that anyone that isn't just get their post truanced by a mod to keep this thread civil and on topic.

Oh, and your wife is beautiful. You better damn well be telling her this on a daily basis.

I'm already back. Just read what Punisher posted concerning his point number seven and would sort of agree.

I wonder what would happen if she moved her right arm back a bit to cover up the chest fold over illusion, which would also have the added benefit of raising the chest a little bit as well.

Another idea concerning the arms, taking into account the previous addition of moving her right back, would be to have her left arm bent so that her hand was doing something with her hair. Not necessarily running fingers through it, perhaps pushing it up a bit giving the sort of messy look (Seems like that was what you said you were going for), or even tweaking a small portion of hair.Keeping with the smile thing, which I'm liking more, and this different pose maybe have her give more of a lazy kind of smile with her eyes a bit more closed. Which again, keeping to a previous comment you made, make her look a bit more relaxed than usual.

If you don't think its the best idea, do not come into the thread just to say that. If you don't think its the best idea, do not come out of your permanent lurker mode just to pile on MSD. There is no need for this thread to get out of hand.

MSD, shes a pretty lady. I don't care much for the hairstyle in the pic, but that might just be her choice.

Thanks for the support.

Actually she didn't care for the hair either...it was my idea. Was just toying around with different styles for the photos.

1) What is the intent on posting this? To get better at picture taking? lighting? posing? etc... Serious question.

2) What were you trying to accomplish with the pictur itself? was it supposed to be sexy, cute, etc... If we know your intent, we can make sure that we are commenting on the correct thing.

3) Do you plan on making photography a job or hobby? Do you plan on different subject matter or stay specifically with people in general or your wife(?) specifically?

4) Did the picture include postwork? If so, what?

5) The background looks "wierd".

6) Lighting seems good except on her left arm.

7) The pose makes her chest area look unnatural and "folded over"

Tatoo should eithe rbe hidden or (if appropriate) shown.

9) Hair style should expose more of her face, but the half hidden eye does look interesting.

10) If you plan on doing this more often, you should post small series of pictures to help illustrate your strengths and weaknesses. Different lighting, poses, etc...

Hey Punisher. Thanks for the questions:

1. Yes. To get advice on how to better pose her, lighting, etc. The standard stuff. I'd post it on a photography forum, but I know you guys much better than anyone on some strange forum and thus I somehow feel more comfortable posting it here (and thought the same about OO before the trolls showed up).

I'm already back. Just read what Punisher posted concerning his point number seven and would sort of agree.

I wonder what would happen if she moved her right arm back a bit to cover up the chest fold over illusion, which would also have the added benefit of raising the chest a little bit as well.

Another idea concerning the arms, taking into account the previous addition of moving her right back, would be to have her left arm bent so that her hand was doing something with her hair. Not necessarily running fingers through it, perhaps pushing it up a bit giving the sort of messy look (Seems like that was what you said you were going for), or even tweaking a small portion of hair.Keeping with the smile thing, which I'm liking more, and this different pose maybe have her give more of a lazy kind of smile with her eyes a bit more closed. Which again, keeping to a previous comment you made, make her look a bit more relaxed than usual.

Yep. As I said with Punisher -- it was a wierd shadow effect. Good idea though and I'll definately get some smiles in there.

1. Yes. To get advice on how to better pose her, lighting, etc. The standard stuff. I'd post it on a photography forum, but I know you guys much better than anyone on some strange forum and thus I somehow feel more comfortable posting it here (and thought the same about OO before the trolls showed up).

4. Yes. The colors were very reddish/warm. I did some color correction to get it right. Other than that, none.

5. Yeah... gotten several responses that mention the background 'clutter'. Will work on fixing that with maybe a backdrop or something.

6. The shadows under the arms were major problems. Especially making her breasts appear strange for some reason. I didn't see it until after I downloaded the pictures to the computer.

7. Yeah. She hated that part. I think it was the shadows or something. Her breasts don't look like that in person. I also didn't notice this until post-editing.

8. So don't half-do the tattoo. Hide it or completely show it. Gotcha. Probably acts as a distraction if it's only partly shown because people try to make out what it is....

9. That's the most common remark thus far. Will be corrected in the next shoot. Thanks!

10. Great idea!

Thanks for the questions/feedback. Very very good. Very helpful.

1) OK, just wasn't sure if you were focusing on one thing or not. It might be beneficial to purchase an inexpensive starter light kit.

2) OK, that seems to have been done.

3) Looked at the gallery. I like the B&W stairs and the colorized stairs. How is the helicopter a WIP? Do you honestly think they are going to stay hovering there while you snap pictuyres?

4) hmmm, I was specifically thinking about the blur, it looks like a bad photoshop job. That is mostly what bothered me about the background, not the clutter. Might be a focus issue on the camera. Speaking of which, what kind do you use?

5) See 4 above

6) yeah the left arm doesn't look evenly lit. One of the reasons I mentioned a light kit.

7) I didn't think they looked like that when she wasn't leaning on them. It may have been shadow, but it looked like they were folded in on themselves.

Yeah, half-way is distracting. Maybe cover it with makeup or PS it out if it's half-way. Can't tell how far down it goes, so I don't know if you should be showing the whole thing or not. :lol:

9) Besides different hair styles, you could also try wigs...Guess it depends on how far you want to go with this....

I am a very basic amatuer photographer/videographer. Pure hobby and just begining and I wouldn't know a f-stop from a bus stop...